The present invention relates to aircraft displays, and more particularly to aircraft displays that display traffic information, such as, but not limited to, traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS).
Cockpit display devices for displaying aircraft traffic have been known for years. Such devices generally operate by monitoring transponder signals emitted from nearby aircraft. Based upon the information transmitted within the transponder signals, as well as the timing of the transponder signals, the cockpit display device is able to determine the location of the neighboring aircraft relative to the device's ownship. Such display devices are commonly referred to as traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS). The display device may display the location of the nearby aircraft in a variety of different manners, such as a plan view that shows the location of the neighboring aircraft as they would appear to a person looking down from above both the ownship and the neighboring traffic, three-dimensional views that indicate the neighboring aircrafts' locations in three dimensions, as well as other views.
In the past, the display of the neighboring traffic has been accomplished through the use of generic symbols that are applied to all detected traffic. Such generic symbols may include solid or hollow diamonds, circles, half-circles, and/or other shapes wherein each shape provides specific information about the position or bearing of the neighboring aircraft relative to the ownship. Positioned next to these generic symbols may be a vertical trend arrow that points up if the neighboring aircraft is ascending, or that points down if the aircraft is descending. Still further, a number may be positioned next to the generic symbol that indicates the relative altitude of the neighboring aircraft with respect to the ownship. For example, the number “+06” would indicate the neighboring aircraft was six hundred feet above the ownship, while the number “−03” would indicate the aircraft was three hundred feet below the ownship.